davidb dives in

After a mere 2.5 hour wait in line, assisted by jet-lag, I have acquired the 3G iPhone. More later.

Back in 2003, as an exercise to help me learn Python, I wrote python-rwhoisd. Why an RWhois server? I had been the main developer and sole maintainer of the C reference version since 1996, and I had been thinking about writing a replacement in a nicer language ever since. So I pretty familiar with the protocol and problem space, and it was complicated enough to be able to sink your teeth into it, yet not so hard that you couldn’t do it fairly quickly. Basically, a great learning project.

Back then, I wanted this project to be unquestionably mine. I was paranoid enough to believe that if I used any of my employer’s equipment, network access, or time that my employer might claim ownership. Why they would want to is anyone’s guess.

So I was very careful to only work on python-rwhoisd at home, on my own time, on my own equipment. The initial version took me two weeks of nights and weekends. Hm. That makes it sound like I was furiously coding into the wee hours. I was actually only spending a few hours each day on it.

Python was a joy to use. My day job was in Java (and Perl) and it felt extremely liberating to be able to write so much code with so little typing. My favorite part was discovering that as I learned more about Python, my code kept getting smaller without getting less readable. Amazing!

Even though I had basically just written python-rwhoisd to learn a new programming language, I was planning on releasing it. I didn’t think that many folks would want it. RWhois wasn’t (and still isn’t) a popular protocol. But some of my colleagues were evangelizing IRIS at the time, and urged me to not release. They thought that it would muddy the waters, so to speak. So I didn’t release it, and then I basically forgot about it.

Fast forward five years. Just two weeks ago I suddenly wanted to learn how to use Git. I played around with tutorial-like git repositories, but it wasn’t enough. I needed something real to work on. I was casting about for a project that I could use, and I ran across python-rwhoisd, mouldering in a local CVS repository.

I had things that I thought should be improved about python-rwhoisd before attempting to release it again. The main thing was to add IPv6 indexing support, which I had done for the C version several years before. While this wasn’t a perfect project for learning Git in all of its glory (for that, I would need collaborators to merge with), it was good enough. Several days later, I’d added the IPv6 indexing and search support, and it was time to release it.

While I don’t expect there to be any major outpouring of interest over python-rwhoisd, it still should be easier to run than the C version (at least, for small datasets), and it should be possible to get it working on Windows without too much effort.

Get it here.

Meaningless stream of comments here.

Over the past few days I’ve read not one, but two articles expressing the hate toward bluetooth headsets. And for both articles, I realized that it was misplaced hate. The authors (and commenters) actually hate the way that some people use them. That is, the whole standing around and talking to yourself thing.

Fair enough, but some of us just want bluetooth headsets so we don’t have to keep buying special, vendor specific headsets, and yet also don’t want to hold the phone up to our ear for the whole hour-long conference call.

Since I was thwarted in my one lame attempt to get an iPhone, I ended up getting a standard-ish Nokia flip phone. This was supposed to be my “backup phone”. I’m not sure when I would have used the backup phone (when I sent my iPhone in for service? When I didn’t want to take the iPhone with me to a dangerous neighborhood?), but it didn’t seem too wasteful to have a unit to use when the primary phone wasn’t working.

Of course, now that I’ve had this Nokia for a few days, I keep liking it more. It fits in my pocket. I can sync it with the Mac via bluetooth. It gets decent reception. It sounds fine. I can use a custom ringtone. (I’m not at the moment, however). It ain’t perfect, but it is working for me.

I do miss the calendaring, password safe, and games from the Treo. But, I never did really use that thing to its full potential, so stepping down from the smartphone is working out fine.

Yesterday, my trusty Treo 650 decided to go crazy. OK, I think, I had it for two years, time for something new. Time for an iPhone! Alas, today is a day when the iPhone appears to be mostly out of stock.

So, let me describe the particular form of crazy that my Treo has become. I first noticed it last night. I was outside, and it was raining (although not directly on me). I look at the Treo, and it is, for some reason, trying to sync via cable. Cancel. It tries to sync again. It is in an endless loop of syncing. It is acting like it has the sync cable plugged in, and the sync button permanently pressed. After several resets to no avail, I give up and remove the battery for a few hours. Now it doesn’t try to sync all the time (although, it still tries sometimes), but it also doesn’t turn on when asked, either.

I’ve tried everything up to and including the data-erasing hard reset with no change. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get an iPhone soonish. I don’t want one bad enough to get it from ebay…

Update: instead of getting an iPhone, I’ve gotten a Nokia 6102i with no contract. Nothing at all like an iPhone, but it is a credible phone. I may change my mind if I’ve got to take it overseas, though. By paying for the phone and not getting a new contract, I do still reserve the right to get an iPhone in the not-too-distant future.

After an afternoon of painting trim, I headed over to the nearby Chinese restaurant, Fortune of Reston. I can walk to it, and as I approached it, I realized that the sign for it was gone. Indeed, the whole restaurant was gone, stripped to the concrete floor. A little Google research later, I discover that is has actually been closed since January 7th. I guess it says something that it took me until March to notice its absence. Ah, Fortune, you will be (somewhat) missed.

On my way back, I noticed that the bagel shop in the same shopping center (Manhattan Bagel) was also gone. The same Google research indicated that it had been gone for over a year. Clearly, my powers of observation need work.

I finally noticed that my TiVo was in the “Pending Restart” state. I restarted it, and bang! new version of the TiVo software (8.1.1-something!).

And this version (among other things) fixes the sound issue that I was having with Comcast SportsNet DC. Of course, this happens exactly one day after the last thing I wanted to see on this channel was aired. Figures.

Now my current issue (which I hope resolves itself) is that Verizon is in the process of moving all the channels around, and I’m currently in the state where some of the channel changes have been applied by TiVo, but not yet by Verizon. And (I think) some changes have been applied by Verizon but not yet by TiVo.

The new TiVo software adds a bunch of features, the most interesting which are “TivoCast” and the “Recently Deleted” folder that now shows up. TivoCast is (I think) the broadband video download service that Tivo is rolling out. I can’t tell how to use it yet. If I ever visited tivo.com, I would have found it obvious how to use it. However, I guess I’m on the cutting edge of this software update, since Tivo Central Online doesn’t seem to realize that the S3 now supports TivoCast.

A few months ago, I switched to Verizon FiOS TV, using two CableCARDs in my S3 TiVO. Mostly just because it was an option, and the FiOS service was at least $10 less than my other option, Comcast. Sorry, Comcast, competition prevails!

Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with this setup. However, I have this strange problem: two channels in my lineup don’t have any sound. They look OK, but no audio, ever. Now digital cable in general, and FiOS is no exception, comes with so damn many channels that there is a significant chance that these two channels might go completely unwatched, thus, no problem. And, in fact, this is largely the case. However, it turns out that one of these channels, there are basketball games that I want to watch. Of course, sound is not strictly necessary for watching a basketball game, and, sometimes, is a hinderance. Nevertheless, it sort of bugged me that I couldn’t, even if I wanted to, listen to the audio. Enough of the mystery, the two channels (for me) are Comcast SportsNet DC (CSNDC) and Mid-Atlantic Sports Net (MASN). They are consecutive, and, suspiciously, both channels from a different cable operator (Comcast, duh).

So, I called FiOS tech support. The friendly tech on the other end of the line tried resetting my CableCARDs (which also apparently had the strange side-effect of disconnection my phone call), but nothing changed. After some more internal kibitzing, she decides to send a tech out my way the next day (that being MLK day). I agree to meet the tech in the afternoon.

The idea is that CableCARDs are so weird and crappy, that this might be because of bad cards. This seemed unlikely to me, since both cards exhibited the problem. What are the chances that two cards fail in the exact same bizarre way? Nonetheless, I was game.

The tech, Mike, is basically on time, and pretty friendly and helpful. He swaps out my cards, and we spend a terribly long time on the phone getting a remote tech to activate the cards. Eventually, this gets done, but: no dice. No surprise there, but what now? Mike calls in to see if they can test this in the CO — Nope, no S3 TiVO there (yet, I think). Eventually the remote FiOS people blame the TiVO. Mike leaves promising to look into it further.

After he leaves, I call TiVO (I wanted to confirm my service level anyway), and report the problem. The TiVO support person has never ever heard of this problem, but promises to move it up the chain.

The next day (this would be…yesterday), TiVO tech support calls me and own up to the problem. It actually is a TiVO problem, that, reportedly, will be address in the next software update. No promises on when that will be, however.

Ever since I sprung for the (awesome) TiVo Series 3, getting two CableCARDs (and digital cable) for it has been on my “to do” list. I’d been avoiding it because of the various horror stories that I’d read about during the Series 3 launch.

I figured I would give the cable companies time to come to grips with the new demand for CableCARDs. So, earlier this month, I figured enough time had passed, and I called Verizon to order the CableCARDs and ditch the (long since unplugged) DVR/cable box.

Note that to call Verizon and get anything useful done, you essentially have to call them during business hours. Otherwise you get stuck in their maddening voice response system. So I finally remember to call them during business hours, and after being transferred a few times, actually get to tell somewhat what I want: 2 CableCARDs for a TiVo. I get scheduled for 11/14. So I work from home that day. Even though it takes me most of the morning to stop swearing at my work laptop, I actually am pretty productive. However, after 3 pm (you know, long after to point where you could have salvaged your day), the Verizon tech calls and informs me both that he doesn’t know what I need, and when I tell him, that he doesn’t have CableCARDs on the truck, so he can’t get to me. Grr.

I reschedule with him for Friday. I call Verizon directly to try and connect all the dots. This is futile. That is, it appears to work, but, as you will soon see, it doesn’t work.

I spend Friday actually on vacation, but feel trapped in the house, since I have zero idea when the techs will arrive. It turns out, I needn’t have bothered. By 3:30, no one has showed, so I call the 1-800 number that I have. I’m informed of something to the effect that the order was screwed up, and could they try again on Monday (today). “Sure,” I say, already pretty annoyed. I was going to be home anyway (more vacation time). I also meant to call them in the morning to find out if anyone driving a Verizon truck even knew about me, but I forget.

Fast forward to now. Around 4, once it is somewhat clear that once again no one was going to come, I call again. This time, the human on the other end is a bit aghast at how screwed up my order is. She calls the dispatcher (this has happened every time I’ve called, except the first time, actually), and eventually tells me that all she can do is escalate. About 30 minutes later, someone from Verizon calls (apparently this is the escalation), and essentially, puts me on hold. Whee!

Currently, I’m yet again scheduled for tomorrow (11/21), this time for the morning (i.e., not an all day window). My decision tree now looks like this: If techs arrive without CableCARDs, they get to take the DVR with them, and I cancel FiOS TV. They are fired. If they arrive with CableCARDs and they work, then they remain hired. If they do not arrive, I stop asking for CableCARDs, and just tell them to cancel, they are fired.

I actually have no reason to believe that getting CableCARDs from Comcast (my other choice — I feel lucky that I even have one) will be smooth, but it is possible that they will, at least, know how to enter an appointment into their system.

Update: SUCCESS! At the outer edge of the installation window (8am to 11am), an installer came and the TiVo is now working with 2 CableCARDs. w00t!

It was harder than it should have been because, at first, the TiVo weirded out, and I had to remove the card and reboot. Next, the installer was unable to initialize the cards via his fairly nifty ruggedized laptop with built-in EV-DO due to some sort of (office-side) configuration issue. After making a few phone calls to find the right person, he got someone on the phone who could initialize the cards, and it was fairly smooth sailing from there on out.

About 40 minutes after that, I’ve re-run “guided setup” on the TiVo, and deleted all of the duplicate, spanish-language, and stupid channels.